Lazy Summer Days
by hannymae
Summary: Yuzuru reminisces her lazy summer days. Oneshot.


Sometimes, she could still feel the wind kissing her cheeks as she flitted through the grass, her sneakers getting dirtier each step she took. The field itself was the colour of barley, and though it tickled and irritated her legs to no end, the absolutely wonderful, flying feeling she got as zigzagged across that field brought her great ecstasy.

There was no other time that she would ever feel so alive, especially when she found herself flanked by those dearest to her.

She remembered how annoying it was when her sister's long, pink hair whipped her face. But Yuzuru's ire in those small moments amounted to nothing, not when she had the greatest honor and pleasure of seeing Shouko smile and laugh as if it were her last day on earth.

Ishida Shouya would run next to Shouko. He would always be next to Shouko, no matter the circumstance. He was awkward, at first. He'd run through the field clumsily, as if he'd never done such a thing before. Or hadn't done such a thing since boyhood.

Yuzuru would come to find out that it was the latter. It had always been the latter.

But it took little to no time for Ishida to adjust; to find his perfect medium in their little ragtag group of friends.

Sahara Miyoko was a naturally gentle, passive soul, Yuzuru remembered. With her cropped short hair and the smattering of freckles across her nose, she was as cute as a button and as pretty as a package.

Yuzuru used to have a hard time believing that Sahara's benevolence was genuine, but she was fairly certain that no one could fake the kind of altruism that she treated everyone with.

Another thing to remember about Sahara was that she was tall; long-legged. And she had no qualms about using those long legs to her advantage as they raced through the barley coloured field and down to the river.

Her beauty, physical and otherwise, was natural and pure. Yuzuru recalled that she wasn't the only one that thought that.

Mainly because Nagatsuka certainly shared the same opinion. To this day, Yuzuru still couldn't fully comprehend how someone as loud and bold as Nagatsuka would fall for sweet, passive Sahara. Then there were his "unable to spit it out tendencies", which drove Yuzuru mad at different points in time.

Honestly, she would want to say to him, just confess already!

And while they might find themselves joined by Ueno (to Yuzuru's great ire) and Kawai (to Yuzuru's even greater ire), the five friends were the closest to each other.

They would howl, whoop, and laugh with joy as they dashed through and past the grass to arrive at the river.

The river was a marvellous thing, and was just as alive as the field had been. It was at the river where they found equal contentment, spending their time fishing and releasing as well as catching frogs.

It was during those times where Yuzuru discovered that Sahara abhorred frogs and simply couldn't stand their slimy nature and unproportional legs. Legs that long didn't belong on such a squat body, she would say.

They would accept her vehement remarks with amused smiles, all except for Nagatsuka, who thought it would be a great idea for him to catch a frog and chase Sahara around with it. When Yuzuru asked why, Nagatsuka had puffed out his chest and explained with great flourish that he thought it was the best way to win the oblivious Sahara's affections.

Even Yuzuru, who did not have a long record of relationships at that time, had shaken her head at him.

Ishida voiced his agreement also and Shouko would nod along with that smile on her face.

Ah, yes, the smile.

Once upon a time, Yuzuru could not comprehend why Ueno hated Shouko's smile so much. But that summer, Yuzuru had saw through it for the first time. Shouko's smile was akin to the smile of a Stepford wife.

She didn't mean it. Yuzuru knew that she didn't. So she was even gladder to see that the quality of Shouko's smile had underwent a metamorphosis during that summer. It was all Ishida's doing, really. That boy could make her smile and laugh like no one else could. _Real_ laughs and _real_ smiles.

Five smiling children down at the river on one hot, lazy summer day, laughing to their heart's content, the sound of laughter accompanied by the monotonous buzz of emerging cicadas.

Ishida.

Shouko.

Sahara.

Nagatsuka.

And Yuzuru.

And even as she reminisced now, an old lady wasting away in her bed, she could still feel the wind on her face, caressing her skin, and the cool water unwinding the worn, knotted muscles in her feet. She could see the dirt embedded on the bottom of her sneakers be carried away by the gentle, lapping flow of the crystal clear water as she stood in the river, net ready to catch whatever frogs there might be.

Her mouth twitched upward as she recited the names of the children once again.

Ishida.

Shouko.

Sahara.

Nagatsuka.

And Yuzuru.

* * *

 _ **A/N: okay bye**_

 _ **~jung**_


End file.
